B5 ÄssStube, Stauffacher, Zurich

Leo’s Bistro is no longer (Leo is now cooking in Kuesnacht and a self-proclaimed pop-up restaurant called B5 ÄssStube has opened up. The concept seems simple enough, two three course set menus and two specials is all that’s available. An interesting touch is that the chef himself shows up to present the menu, not sure that this is something that will scale if the restaurant is full. The menu seemed rather ambitious as an example the chef called out that they were using Skrei a cod from Norway, which is a top-notch fish.
The amuse bouche is huge, Semmelknöedel slices, fish tartare and pesto rosso, unfortunatly the balance is off and the pesto taking over everything else with it’s strong taste. My first course was a barley (Gerste) soup. While the brunoise was plentiful and nicely diced, the soup was lacking umami and power. It had an intense acidity but fell flat in taste. The next dish was mixed as well, ribbon of flounder on a bed of peas, accompanied with an orange foam, carrot straw and a banana chip. It was a bad combination. The orange foam was comparable to Tiki, superbly sour, way too strong orange flavor and just shouldn’t have been on this plate. The peas, while not in season, were okay but overpowered the rather mildly seasoned flounder. I wasn’t quite sure what the banana chip was doing on the plate. Main course had a nicely & tender cooked piece of meat and red wine juice, the potato cakes on the sweet side and the vegetables okay.

Overall the place feels a tad out of place. It’s trying to impress with complicated & elaborate dishes, but fails to deliver. Underpromising and overdeliver seems the better approach then aiming for fine dining compositions. It comes back to an old saying sometimes less is more. It does need to be pointed out that the prices are very fair – 60 CHF for this type of menu is pretty decent.